It doesn’t look like much, but the photo above represents the beginning of the 2009 Meadowwood Garden growing season!
This year we are trying some new things. On the left running diagonally following the trellis netting is a row of sugar snap peas. Although we LOVE peas, for some reason we have never tried to grow them so this is a first for us. Everything we read says they can be sown as soon as the soil can be worked and they need support. We have both fronts covered so cross your fingers! We did use some innoculant to give the peas a boost, so we are hoping they do just fine.
The rest of the darker area to the right is our first attempt at lettuce. Again, this is something we have never tried before. We broadcast the seeds over the area and then lightly worked our hand over them to give a light covering of soil. Then we watered and said a small prayer. Our intent is to harvest the greens young and allow them to grow back for repeat harvests until summer.
We have a lot of exciting plans for this year. A new support system for tomatoes and possibly eggplant is in the works. We enjoyed the gourds and melons so much we are working up a nifty new way to support them outside of the garden. We will do some unscientific testing of a fertilizer and some seaweed extract we used last year to see if either or both make a difference in our garden. All of the beds need to be boxed in and possibly the walkways will be covered with gravel if the cost is reasonable.
Oh yeah, and we are planting a ton of veggies too of course! New varieties will include garlic, carrots, asian eggplant, new peppers, and the aforementioned peas and lettuce. We have sunflowers and marigolds for some color. And who knows what else we will try?
Stay tuned for reports on the seed starting, garlic patch, and many other topics of interest!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
can you ship peas across state boundaries?
@ Braden — We can ship or you can come pick them up. Spare bedroom available for overnight stays.
Greetings Fellow Gardener!!
I just stumbled upon your site, and have been enjoying you’r stories. Found some helpful info too. I’m a serious flower/herb gardner now become a serious food growing wannabe. I want to know what I’m eating and sharing with friends. I put together a garden house with help of a few friends. The house consists of a abandoned metal frame from a shade pavillion. We set it up and covered the sides with chicken wire and zipties. The walls stand about 7 feet high with the roof peak at about 10 feet. I have constructed 5 raised beds inside from cinderblock (tried by others and apparently ok) filled with good dirt and compost. In addition I will fill the hole’s in the block with dirt as well, providing extra space for individual lettuces and marigolds. Last season I only managed to fill one bed and planted peas. Actually had a little success. I put down landscape fabric in the walk ways, but never got the gravel in. The fabric is now deteriorated from the weather and foot traffic. Within the week we will relay fabric and top off with rock dust. This will be much easier to walk on than pea gravel as it packs down almost like cement, and is cheap at the stone quarry. Hopefully this little garden house will provide fresh food to eat and some to dry/freeze as well. At lease we think we can keep the deer at bay this way. Hopefully the rabbits and moles will stay on the outside as well. We did dig a trench to bury the bottom few inches of chickenwire. We also put hardware cloth in the bottom of the beds to keep the moles out. I used bamboo and twiggs to lead the pole beans and peas to grow up the side of chicken wire wall. Wish me well. If I can figure out how to send a digital picture in my spare time, I’ll do so if you would like to see the results. Of course assuming there are positive results. I have a good feeling. My compost is pretty yummy looking.
Can you give me a little more info on making your cucumber trellis at a 45 degree angle. Is this to keep the hot sun off or just for ease of picking the cuc’s? I bought all heirloom seed’s that are pretty rare. Check out amishlandseeds.com if you want to find a source for seed that has not been altered by the GMO Nazi’s. It may be too late to keep the GMO horror from tainting us all, but I’m darn well going to try and avoid the damage as long as possible. Keep on nurturing and sharing.
Green Blessings For You and Your’s
Ayla
Berkeley Springs WV
@ Ayla — Thank you for your comments and questions. We are glad you are finding some useful information here. We would love to see photos if you can figure out how to send them. mg@meadowwoodgarden.com is a good e-mail address to use.
There are a couple reasons we put the cucumber trellis at an angle. Cucumber vines don’t seem to be as aggressive climbers as, say, pole beans are. We had to hand train the vines until they got to the top, and that was much easier to do with the trellis at an angle. The side benefits you have already noted — namely ease of harvest and plenty of shade for the cukes. We also had visions of growing some sort of crop beneath the cucumbers but never did so because the cucumbers were SO vigorous they grew up the trellis and all the way back down the fence on the other side!
Our walkways need some work too. We have pea gravel around the house and it is lousy to walk on and very messy. If rock dust works like you say it sounds like just the ticket for us — thank you for that!
Please stop by again and let us know how your garden does this season!